About

Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. A national authority on religion and the media as both a journalist and a scholar, her expertise includes religion, politics and the news media as well as religion and the entertainment media. Professor Winston’s current research interests are media coverage of Islam, religion and new media, and the place of religion in American identity.

At the University of Southern California, Professor Winston teaches courses that examine religion as it relates to journalism, visual media, American history and foreign policy. Reporting from her class on international religion has appeared in numerous publications including the “Hollywood, Faith and Media,” her class on spirituality and ethics on television dramas, has hosted writer/directors such as David Shore (“House”), Nancy Franklin (“Saving Grace”) and Ron Moore (“Battlestar Galactica”). The guest lectures are available on YouTube. Professor Winston also has hosted conferences on post-9/11 television and the war on terror, religion and electoral politics, and Islam and the news media.

Professor Winston’s current research in on religion and the news media. Her newest book is The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the American News Media (Oxford University Press, 2012) and she is currently finishing Heartland Religion: The American News Media and the Reagan Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2013). The Oxford Handbook is an edited volume with sections on world religions, religion and hot-button social issues, the history of religion and the news in the United States, and the religious press. Heartland Religion revisits the 1970s and 1980s to explore how the news media contributed to the conservative ideological shift known as the Reagan Revolution.

Between 1983 and 1995, Professor Winston covered religion at the Raleigh News and Observer, the Dallas Times Herald and the Baltimore Sun and contributed regularly to the Dallas Morning News. She has won numerous press association awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her work in Raleigh, Dallas and Baltimore. Her articles also have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post and the Chronicle of Higher Education among other publications. Winston’s blogging about religion and media can also be found on The Scoop.

In 1996, Winston received a Ph.D. from Princeton University. She also holds Master’s degrees from Harvard Divinity School and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her work in American religion has explored evangelicalism, gender, consumer culture and urbanization. Her published books are Red Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army(Harvard, 1999), Faith in the Market: Religion and Urban Commercial Culture(Rutgers, 2003) and Small Screen, Picture: Lived Religion and Television(Baylor, 2009).

Program Overview

In today’s world, religion plays a crucial role in domestic and international affairs. That’s why reporters benefit by understanding the importance of religion, spirituality, ethics and values to both individuals and society.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, aware that religion coverage requires more than “a few good religious beat reporters,” conceived of the Knight Chair in Media and Religion as a rallying point for the re-visioning of religion in the news.

In 2002, the foundation awarded the $1.5 million Chair to the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in recognition of the school’s commitment to enhancing media coverage of religion in the 21st century and raising public awareness of religion’s socio-cultural significance. The school pledged to facilitate better coverage of religion, spirituality, ethics and values, and recruited Dr. Diane Winston to the Chair.

The Knight Chair in Media and Religion participates in a wide range of activities, including fellowships for in-depth, explanatory reporting, conferences for working journalists, community events and resource development. Dr. Winston addresses a host of issues surrounding religion and media through her writing and public speaking, as well as her development of coursework and symposiums. Through these outreach activities, USC Annenberg has become a hub for re-visioning how the press—and society itself—thinks about and reports on religion.

Mission Statement

The Knight Chair seeks to establish the Annenberg School for Communication as a pre-eminent location for the enhancement of religion coverage—not simply confined to the traditional realms of religion reporting but one which proactively illuminates the intersection of religion and all beats, whether politics, environment, education, or entertainment. The Chair will develop courses for journalism students, sponsor public events, and initiate venture projects with local constituencies. The program aims to serve the news industry by working with media corporations and professional journalism associations to create an environment conducive to the critical understanding of religion, spirituality, and moral values as fundamental elements of coverage. In this capacity, the Chair will initiate continuing education programs that benefit journalists.

“Religion, Sexuality and AIDS: All the News That’s Firt to Print?” at “Media, Religion and Social Transformation,” a conference sponsored by the Center for Religion and Media at New York University, April 26, 2012.
Lecturer at the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Religion and American Journalism Conference, March 28, 2012
Moderator, “Looking for Judaism in (Un) Conventional Places,” asymosium hosted by the Center for Jewish Studies at UCLA, Feb. 13, 2012
Panelist on “Teaching Religion in Public Schools,” KCRW
Lecturer on the impact of the media on the Salvation Army’s mission and identity at a public symposium on “The Relationship of Religion and Philanthropy in Religious Philanthropic Organizations” at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis October 8, 2010
Panelist: “Religion and Media,” Ford Foundation Board of Trustees, April 21, 2009
“Religion, Media and Nonprofits,” International Center for Media Studies’ Symposium ‘Emerging Technologies, Globalization and the Developing World,’April 6, 2009
“Religion, the News Media and the 2008 Election,” UCLA Extension Series: Beyond the Headlines: Morning Edition, November 18, 2008
Panelist: Annenberg Open Forum on Politics, War and More, USC, November 6, 2008
Panelist: “Generation ‘Next’ Votes: Does Faith Matter?, USC Visions & Voices and the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, October 29, 2008“Run for the White House: Religion, Race, Gender and the Media,” ASU Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, October 16, 2008; podcast available here;video feed available here.
“The Role That Religion has Played in the 2008 Elections,” NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change, September 27, 2008
“Religion and World Politics,” Festival of Faiths 2008, USC, 26 February 2008US Elections and Religion, February 19, 2008
“Going Public on Religion: Paradise or Pitfall,” American Academy of Religion, 19 November 2007.
“Sleeper Cell: Viewing Religion, Race and Terrorism in a Post 9/11 World,” American Academy of Religion, 17 November 2007.
“Reporting on Religion: Religious Intolerance in Perspective,” Harvard Divinity School LA Regional Event, 16 November 2007.
“Buddhism in the News: Religion, Media and Public Diplomacy,” Religion, Identity and Global Governance Conference (USC), 18 October 2007.
“What Went Right: Religion, Politics and Journalism in the Twentieth Century,” American Studies Association, 11 October 2007.
“Going Public on Religion: Paradise or Pitfall,” American Academy of Religion, 19 November 2007.
“Interfaith Dialogue and Action,” Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (UCSB), 27 August 2007.
Gralla Institute, 15 July 2007.MIT Communications Forum: Evangelicals and the Media April 5, 2007The Future Is Now: Gralla Institute 2006 Keynote, Brandeis, July 16, 2006If It Bleeds, It Leads: ASU Center for the Study of Religion & Conflict Marshall Series Lecture, April 20, 2006The Way to the Land is Through the Wilderness: Pacific School of Religion Earl Lecture, January 24, 2006